A Toy Story: Marshfield Children’s Hospital wins big
By Hub City Times staff
MARSHFIELD – Through a social media campaign, Marshfield Children’s Hospital was the recipient of several hundred toys on March 13.
“Fisher-Price has always been a huge donor for children’s hospitals around the country,” McKenzie Tischauser, certified child life specialist with Marshfield Children’s Hospital. “This year, they changed things up a little bit in the contest. The top 10 hospitals that won the contest were able to get a pallet of toys.”
In the past, Fisher Price took requests for toys and split donations among children’s hospitals submitting throughout the nation. This year, the company ran a contest in which requesting hospitals were asked to share a link. The top ten hospitals in links shared were chosen to receive the toys.
Through the Spread the Joy with Toys campaign, Marshfield Children’s received 300 toys for infant to school age children.
“Now, we get to distribute them to patients and families,” added Tischauser. “We save some for birthdays and special occasions, like Christmas, for families that find themselves here unexpectedly, to help with those celebrations to help normalize the patient’s experience and make things as normal as possible for them.
“We also use a lot of them for therapeutic play. One of the most important aspects of a child’s life is play. It helps continue development. Our job as child life specialists is to really help kids be kids while they are in the hospital.”